THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974)

After hearing reports of grave robbing, sister and brother Sally and Franklin Hardesty, along with three friends go on a road trip to check on their grandfathers grave and to stop by the old family homestead.  Things are going fine until they pick up a hitchhiker who happens to be part of a murderous family of cannibals.  The rest is movie history.

If I had to list the three most influential movies on my life they would probably be BACK TO THE FUTURE, ALIENS and THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE.  As a teenager/young adult falling in love with movies, I watched those three films hundreds of times.  Hell, I still have 'em on my phone and watch 'em whenever I'm bored.  They've become a more realistic part of my life than many actual parts of my life!

Even without the nostalgic value, I still believe that TCM is one of the best movies of all time.  There's just something genuine about it.   Now whether that is actually true or not, I have no idea, but it definitely seems so.  That same honest feeling is why I included PINK FLAMINGOS on my Best Movies List.  No celebrities, no gore, only a small amount of blood, no nudity, no popular songs, no ghosts, no jump scenes...just some people who wanted to make an original horror movie and every single one of the movie gods smiling at once

I'm sure people will scoff at this, but I believe, the scene where Pam enters the house is one of the most influential scenes in movie history...the set design, the sound design, the lighting, the editing, the overwhelming sense of doom...that moment has been copied countless times in horror movies and music videos ever since.

Easily one of the best movies of all time.  My absolute highest recommendation.

Part 2 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Part 3 - Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
Remake/sequel - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
Reboot 1 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Reboot prequel - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Reboot sequel to original - Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)
Prequel - Leatherface (2017)
Direct sequel to original - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

 Behind the scenes.

"W.E. Slaughter Barbecue" according to Gunnar Hansen's book "Chain Saw Confidential" this means the family name is Slaughter.

THE NIGHT VISITOR (1971)

THE NIGHT VISITOR opens with a nighttime shot of a old frozen seaside fort(?) that's now being used as a insane asylum.  Suddenly a figure comes running across the rocky, snow covered coast.  He's wearing nothing but his underwear and a pair of boots.  It's Max von Sydow and he looks totally miserable.  Half-frozen and bluer than Papa Smurf's penis he scampers through the woods and to an isolated farmhouse.  He breaks in and spies on the residents...then it's time for a little murder and a return trip to the insane asylum wear he breaks back in.  What could the point of all this be?

The first act of THE NIGHT VISITOR was great, filled with mystery and tension, but then you get into the police investigation part (lead by Trevor Howard) and it all falls apart.  The cops have two suspects in the murders: Max and a local doctor (played by Per Oscarsson).  All they have to do is hide a guard outside of Max's cell door and another outside the doctor's house and the case would be solved, but no...instead they let the murders continue and only react afterwards.

The story might've had holes all through it, but the cast was a real treat.  Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow are two of my favorite actors, so them plus Trevor Howard and Per Oscarsson...well, I was about as happy as a movie lover could be, even with the overly complicated story.